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CHAPTER8
Aunt Bertha loved bingo. So did her niece, Hilda. It was held every Saturday night in the hotel’s front lobby. It was mainly a faction event, with a few humans in the know who came to play, and it was second only to House of Sin for the amount of revenue it brought into the Twilight Sphere on Saturdays.
The fact that they were missing it in order to help Micah had him wondering just how much this was going to cost him when they were done.
It didn’t matter. Unlike Raze, he wasn’t so concerned with hoarding his wealth. If it meant that he could do something to help his soulmate, he’d give over every cent he had—and he’d do it gladly.
The two witches agreed to meet Micah, Cinder, and Crow in her hotel room. After Micah explained what they were going to try to do—and Cinder eventually admitted that she was willing to try anything to fix her magic and figure out her past—they arrived, each carrying a satchel of supplies.
Hilda was still considered young for a witch. A few inches shorter than Micah, she had hair as black as Cinder, with the tips dyed a deep blue color that matched her eyes. She must’ve come straight from the Twilight Café because she was wearing the black shirt with the purple logo that was part of her uniform.
Her Aunt Bertha looked more stereotypically witchy. Though she was a handsome woman of about fifty—a good century younger than her true age—she wore her silver hair back in a low bun. Slither, her garden snake familiar, was wrapped around her plump bicep. She wore a long black dress and carried a big handbag to go with her satchel of herbs and other ingredients.
Crow wasn’t a big fan of Slither. Cinder’s familiar kept snapping his beak at the snake, only stopping when Aunt Bertha snapped her fingers and his beak stuck shut.
Cinder’s purple eyes flared to gold. “What did you do to Crow?”
“Nothing you wouldn’t have done if it was my Slither trying to get at your bird,” Aunt Bertha said with a bit of a wink. “The spell will reverse once we’re gone. Now, come here, witchling. Let auntie look you over.”
Cinder glanced at Micah. When he nodded at her, she gave her head a royal shake, then crossed the room toward the two witches.
This was Aunt Bertha’s show. While Hilda was a whiz when it came to making a cappuccino and building a ward, Aunt Bertha’s specialty was curses. Considering Cinder had been in the pits of Hell for the last forty years until Lucifer sent her back to Purgatory again, odds were pretty good that she had some kind of curse.
That’s what Lucifer did, after all.
Aunt Bertha put both of her bags down, then flicked her wrist. “Wait for me, Slither. This shouldn’t take long.”
To Micah’s surprise, the snake jerked his head, then uncoiled his body before, well, slithering to the carpeted floor.
That done, Aunt Bertha circled Cinder, her palms a few inches away from Micah’s soulmate as she assessed the situation. It was something he’d seen his witch do back when they first met, and something Hilda did when she was getting ready to start a ward. Micah wasn’t worried—at least, not until Aunt Bertha frowned.
“Hilda, dear?”
“Yes, Aunt B?”
“I think we’re going to need Ariel.”
Micah frowned. Ariel was a petite demoness who worked alongside Rhea at the Twilight Sweets Bakery. She was born into the faction rather than being turned by Lucifer, and she was one of Blane Pazu’s subjects. That meant she was loyal to the demon king Pazuzu instead of Lucifer, though she still had powers similar to those who came from Hell.
While Hilda grabbed her phone, placing a call to the bakery, Micah approached Aunt Bertha. “Is something wrong? If anything, I thought you’d have to call in another witch to help Cinder.”
Aunt Bertha pursed her lips. “I could, but they’d see the same thing I do. Poor thing… it isn’t magic holding her back, or a spell. It’s definitely a curse.”
“A curse?” echoed Cinder. Crow had flown over to her, settling in his usual place on her shoulder, though his beak was still closed. Lifting her hand, she trailed her fingers over the nearest feather. “I mean, he says I sold my soul to him, and I must’ve because I ended up in the Pit, but why would he curse me?”
Micah’s jaw tightened. Why? Because she was the fated lifemate to one of Lucifer’s age-old enemies.
It was all so clear to him. Even Lucifer made sure to rub it in when he laughingly explained how he made the deal with Phoenix decades ago. She sold her soul for her fire, and he did everything to make her his instead of Micah’s.
Well, it was his turn.
He waited until Hilda ended her phone call to ask, “What did Ariel say?”
“She’s got a tray of cupcakes coming out in two minutes. As soon as they’re done, she’ll pop up and see what kind of curse we’re dealing with.”
Moving over to Cinder’s side, he tucked a strand of her wild, dark hair behind her ear. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. I swear it.”
Glancing up at him through the fringe of her eyelashes, Micah’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the faith shining in the depths of her purple eyes. So different from the skeptical look she gave only a few days ago, he realized he’d do anything to keep it there.
